The Algerian national team turned the tables on its guest, Niger, and defeated it 2-1 in a friendly match held on Tuesday evening.
The Niger national team surprised by taking the lead in the first half with a goal scored by Konan Nedri 13 minutes into the match that was held at the “Hussein Ait Ali” stadium in the state of Tizi Ouzou.
In the second half, the Desert Warriors equalized with a goal scored by Mohamed Al-Bashir Belloumi from a brilliantly executed free kick in the 54th minute.
Borussia Dortmund defender Ramy Bensebaini added the second goal for Algeria in the 72nd minute from a penalty kick.
Thus, the Algerian national team concludes its international camp, after defeating Zambia 3-1 and narrowly drawing with Burundi 2-2 at the start of its campaign in the ninth group of the qualifiers for the 2027 African Cup of Nations.
On the other hand, the Niger national team beat Lesotho 2-1, then lost by two unanswered goals to Morocco in the first two rounds of the first group of the qualifiers.
The Saudi national team won the Gulf Cup title, “Gulf 27,” for the fourth time in its history after the years “1994, 2002, and 2003,” at the expense of the Emirati team 2-0 in the confrontation that brought them together at Al-Enmaa Stadium, “the Radiant Jewel” in Jeddah, in the presence of a full crowd.
The match was preceded by a brief, but very expressive, closing ceremony entitled “Welcome to the Gulf.” One of the popular bands performed a song on the field, while the Gulf Cup was presented in the form of a huge statue in the middle of the field.
The closing ceremony came about two weeks after the start of the tournament in Jeddah, which hosted the “Gulf 27” competitions for the first time in its history with the participation of 8 teams, divided into two groups before Saudi Arabia and the UAE reached the final match.
The green stands were the title of the great football wedding. It provided a historical lesson in support and assistance, and led Al-Akhdar to the historic victory that returned them to the podium after an absence of two decades, and before hosting the continental forum “Asia Cup 2027” starting next January.
From the beginning of the match, the young Green Stars, led by Greek coach Denis, presented a fiery display that resulted in two goals from the first quarter of an hour, and they put their opponent in a difficult angle to catch up with the score and keep up with them in performance and football solo play.
The Saudi national team entered with a squad consisting of: Muhammad Al-Owais, Muhammad Abu Al-Shamat, Hassan Timbukti, Abdul-Ilah Al-Maliki, Mutaib Al-Harbi, Abdullah Al-Khaibari, Nasser Al-Dosari, Saleh Abu Al-Shamat, Muhammad Kanno, Hammam Al-Hammami, and Firas Al-Braikan.
While the UAE squad included: Khaled Issa, Robin Philippe, Lucas Pimenta, Issam Fayez, Mamadou Koulibaly, Marcos Meloni, Aladdin Zuhair, Ousmane Camara, da Silva, Nicolas Jimenez and Bruno Oliveira.
The brilliant player, Hammam Al-Hammami, succeeded in igniting the atmosphere early by scoring the first goal for Al-Akhdar in the 11th minute, taking advantage of the return of the ball from inside the penalty area following a corner kick. He shot it powerfully and changed its path after colliding with one of the Emirates players, so that goalkeeper Khaled Issa found it very difficult to confront it.
Two minutes later, Firas Al-Braikan documented Al-Akhdar’s terrifying start after scoring the second goal, taking advantage of a cunning pass from his colleague Nasser Al-Dosari that penetrated the White defenses, finding himself facing the goal, and shooting it to the left of goalkeeper Khaled Issa.
Saleh Abu Al-Shamat almost added the third goal for Al-Akhdar after being alone in the Emirati goal, had he not dealt with an exaggerated display of the ball, causing it to hit the post, wasting a good Saudi opportunity to kill the match.
In the 37th minute, Moroccan referee Jalal Jaid awarded a penalty kick in favor of the Emirates after Bruno Oliveira fell inside the green zone, claiming that he was obstructed by Hassan Timbukti, but the referee returned to the VAR technique to ensure that there was no error on the part of the Saudi defender, and then canceled the decision amid objection from the Emirati technical staff led by Croatian Zlatko, and great interaction from the Saudi fans in the stands.
The green stands were the title of the great football wedding, as they provided a lesson in support and led the Greens to a historic victory
The Egyptian and Moroccan national teams advanced to the finals of the African U-20 Football Cup of Nations, which will be held in Ghana next year 2027.
The Egyptian national team advanced following a 2-0 victory over Algeria at the conclusion of the North African Championship, which was held in the Egyptian city of Ismailia.
Mahmoud Salah and Anas Rushdi scored the goals of the Egyptian team in the 22nd and 82nd minutes of the match that was held at the Suez Canal Authority Stadium in Ismailia.
At the same time, the Libyan national team won 3-2 over its Moroccan counterpart, the World Cup holder in this Sunni stage, in a match held at the Ismailia Stadium.
The Moroccan national team took the lead with a goal by Khaled Qasimi in the 18th minute, and its Libyan counterpart responded with a hat-trick by Musa Ibrahim, Abderrahmane Makari from a penalty kick, and Jaafar Abu Latifa in the 30th, 36th and 67th minutes.
The Moroccans reduced the gap with a second goal scored by Moncef Mohamed in the 79th minute.
With these results, the Egyptian national team raises its score to 9 points at the top of the North African qualifiers, and wins the championship cup, followed by the Moroccan national team with 7 points, to advance together to the Nations Cup that qualifies for the 2027 World Cup, which will be held in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.
On the other hand, the Algerian national team's balance froze at 4 points, remaining in third place, ahead of Libya on goal difference, while the Tunisia national team is at the bottom of the standings with 3 points.
Following Egypt's victory over Algeria, a coronation ceremony was held, with the Pharaohs receiving the championship cup and the gold medal, and the Moroccan national team receiving the silver medal for second place.
Individual awards were also handed out, as Mahmoud Salah, the Egyptian Al-Ahly and Egyptian national team striker, won the best player award in the tournament, while Moroccan Shoaib Belarouche, the French player of Reims, won the best goalkeeper award.
The Moroccan team also won the Sportsmanship Award.
For his part, Wael Riad, the coach of the Egyptian national team, said after the coronation ceremony: “Congratulations to the fans, players and the Football Association, after hard work and effort. My feeling of happiness cannot be described.”
He added in television statements: “In this tournament, we played 4 African finals. These are not matches, but finals. Our main goal was to qualify for the Nations Cup, and winning the North African Championship Cup was a reward for us.”
Wael Riad sent a message to the Egyptian fans about the need to be present in the stands to support this young generation, and also to export fear to the competitors, adding that it is necessary to take advantage of the good condition of the Egyptian national team in the 2026 World Cup under the leadership of coach Hossam Hassan.
